Monday, November 20, 2006

No More Wake-Up Calls For Hamas

Israel was for the first time forced to abandon an airstrike against a Palestinian militant in the Gaza Strip yesterday, after hundreds of civilians gathered to protect his home.

The human shield formed at the home of Mohammed Baroud early yesterday morning after the Israeli military telephoned to warn him that he had 10 minutes to leave before it was blown up.

Israel often uses unannounced (sic) airstrikes in Gaza to assassinate militants. Sometimes it targets their homes, weapons laboratories or arms caches and issues warnings to keep down the numbers of civilian casualties.

Until now the warnings have been quickly heeded. But this time, Mr Baroud – a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees that have been firing rockets into Israeli towns near Gaza – ran to a mosque and appealed for help over the loudspeakers used for the Muslim call to prayer.

Hundreds of people flocked to his house, with some taking up positions on his rooftop. As dawn broke a spokesman for the Israeli military confirmed that the airstrike had been cancelled.

"We don't want to hurt uninvolved civilians," the source said. "The terrorists are using uninvolved civilians as human shields."

The human shield was the first to halt an airstrike in Gaza, but appears destined to become a new tactic. "This is a victory for the Palestinian people. It is a defeat for the Israeli F-16s," said one Palestinian militant at the house. "Every time the Israeli military call from now on, no one will leave their homes."

Actually, all the Palestinian "militants" have defeated is Israel's practice of warning them before whacking them.

So now there'll be no more wake-up calls, and the terrorists will have to move to uncomfortable and insanitary spider holes.